Around dawn a few days back I heard a African wood owl (Strix woodfordii) call, the first I've heard in many months. Two days ago I heard but did not see my first European bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) of the season coming through on their southward passage from Europe. Yesterday we had grey crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum) calling in the distance (and it's been a couple of months since I have seen or heard these in Mbale). This morning I heard them again and was thrilled to see three of them fly almost directly over our house.
In other news...I came across the spectacular Levaillant's cuckoo (Oxylophus levaillantii) while walking in another part of our neighborhood the other day. We continue to hear, and occasionally see, western black-headed orioles. Still only the occasional African black kite (Milvus migrans) and no bronze-tailed starlings (Lamprotornis chalcurus) for a while; these are two of our intra-Africa or regional migrants and I'm still trying to work out exactly what are the normal limits of their seasonal presence with us.
Jonathan and I did a little birding last Monday morning in a narrow band of mixed-acacia woodland at the edge of a wetland just west of Mbale town. We had the pleasure of seeing, among others, African spoonbill (Platalea alba), white-faced whistling duck (Dendrocygna viduata) quite a number of red-headed lovebirds (Agapornis pullarius), white-throated and little bee-eaters (Merops albicollis and pusillus), marsh tchagra (Tchagra minuta), fan-tailed widowbird (Euplectes axillaris), and pin-tailed whydah (Vidua macroura).
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My fascination with things feathered goes back to growing-up years in Malawi. It's been a pleasure over 13 years to get acquainted with East African bird life while living in Uganda, and to continue now that I'm back in Texas. This blog chronicles some of the birds I meet along the way, whether around our house or somewhere farther afield.
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